Name derivation:

Comon name ‘water hyacinth’.

Classification:

EichorniaKunth 1842

Order Liliales;FamilyPontederiaceae

Perennial aquatic dicot.

Morphology:

Free-floating flowering
plant with thick waxy leaves arranged in a rosette that can reach 90 cm above
the water surface, and feather-like roots suspended in lakewater
(not anchored in sediments).the leaf petioles are inflated and provide buoyancy with a
high proportion of air, often 700% (7 cm3g-1) or more by
volume in the lacunae of the leaf mesophyll.The leaves are kept rigid by both the
inflated lacunae of the mesophyll, and the colligativeturgor pressure of
their cells (Sculthorpe1967).

Dense populations of stomates, 120 mm-2 occur on both sides of the
leaf blades;stomates open daily at ~ 5 AM and close by 5 PM (Ibid.1967).